The anti-GMO movement took a major hit on Tuesday, when Washington voters defeated a high-profile referendum that would have enacted a genetically-modified labeling law in the state.

But announcements by McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) and Gerber Products Company, a leading baby food manufacturer, stating that they would not use Arctic Apples, the world’s first genetically-engineered apples, pending approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, emerged Thursday. The moves by the major food suppliers suggest that all the bad press on GMO foods is having an impact, despite any political wins the biotechnology industry has had in the ongoing fight over the products.

The international environmental network Friends of the Earth announced Thursday that Gerber and McDonald’s wrote letters dated Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, respectively, confirming that they would decline to use the “non-browning” apples in their foods.